梁 (liáng): Liang Dynasty (502–557), Later Liang Dynasty (907–923), roof beam

梁 (liáng) is a Chinese character meaning “liang dynasty (502–557).” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (structural), 刅 (structural) and 木 (structural). It ranks #1408 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 梁 a wooden 木 bridge built 刅 over a river 氵. Its radical form 木 (tree) appears in many related characters such as 本 (běn, (bound form) root), 机 (jī, machine, opportunity), 条 (tiáo, strip).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Liang Dynasty (502–557)
  2. Later Liang Dynasty (907–923)
  3. roof beam

Etymology & Origin

梁

ideographicA wooden 木 bridge built 刅 over a river 氵

Decomposition: ⿱⿰氵刅木 (layout: top-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

Practice writing 梁 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 梁

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
桥梁nounqiáo liángbridge (lit. and fig.)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
横梁nounhéng liángbeam
鼻梁nounbí liángbridge of the nose
脊梁nounjǐ liángbackbone
顶梁柱noundǐng liáng zhùpillar
房梁fáng liángroof beam
脊梁骨nounjǐ liang gǔbackbone
挑大梁verbtiǎo dà liángto play a leading role
偷梁换柱phrasetōu liáng huàn zhùlit. to steal a rafter and replace it with a column
上梁不正下梁歪proverbshàng liáng bù zhèng xià liáng wāilit. If the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked (idiom)
大梁proper-noundà liángcapital of Wei 魏 during Warring states
逼上梁山phrasebī shàng liáng shāndriven to join the Liangshan Mountain rebels
栋梁noundòng liángridgepole
梁山proper-nounliáng shānsee 梁山縣|梁山县
山梁nounshān liángmountain ridge
梁上君子phraseliáng shàng jūn zǐlit. the gentleman on the roof beam
83
Total compounds
36
As first character
41
As last character
23
As middle character

梁 appears in 83 compound words: 36 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 23 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 梁 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

桥qiáo
0.57022,525 co-occurrences
抬tái
0.4621,128 co-occurrences
栋dòng
0.4611,113 co-occurrences
振zhèn
0.4614,624 co-occurrences
吕lǚ
0.4341,958 co-occurrences
漱shù
0.429234 co-occurrences
钢gāng
0.4171,744 co-occurrences
秉bǐng
0.413534 co-occurrences
横héng
0.3871,442 co-occurrences
灿càn
0.386244 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

戳脊梁骨chuō jǐlianggǔHSK 7+

to speak ill of someone behind their back; to backbite

verb
雕梁画栋diāo liáng huà dòngHSK 7+

richly ornamented (building)

phrase
梁上君子liángshàngjūnzǐHSK 7+

burglar; thief

phrase
绕梁三日ràoliángsānrìHSK 6+

sonorous and resounding

phrase
跳梁小丑tiàoliángxiǎochǒuHSK 6+

a buffoon who performs antics; a contemptible rebel; a clumsy mischief-maker

phrase
偷梁换柱tōuliánghuànzhùHSK 7+

to replace the original with a fake; to perpetrate a fraud

phrase
悬梁刺股xuánliángcìgǔHSK 7+

to study diligently

phrase
余响绕梁yú xiǎng rào liángHSK 6+

reverberates around the rafters (idiom); fig. sonorous and resounding (esp. of singing voice)

phrase

Showing 8 of 10 idioms containing 梁.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

工人们正在砍伐病梁,防止虫害蔓延。

gōng rén men zhēng zài kǎn fá bìng liáng , fáng zhǐ chóng hài mán yán .

Workers are cutting down diseased beams to prevent the spread of insect infestation.

Vietnam+Feb 2026

越南国家主席梁强与国家主席办公厅干部举行新春见面会

yuè nán guó jiā zhǔ xí liáng qiáng yǔ guó jiā zhǔ xí bàn gōng tīng gān bù jǔ háng xīn chūn jiàn miàn huì

Vietnamese President Liang Qiang and cadres of the President's Office held a New Year meeting

Orientaldaily MyFeb 2026

... 魏家祥:秉持“超越教育”理念栽培社会栋梁

. . . wèi jiā xiáng : bǐng chí chāo yuè jiào yù lǐ niàn zāi péi shè huì dòng liáng

... Wei Jiaxiang: Adhering to the concept of "beyond education" to cultivate social pillars

東方日報Feb 2026

龙七公:“万亿大市”挑大梁支撑基本面

lóng qī gōng : wàn yì dà shì tiāo dà liáng zhī chēng jī běn miàn

Long Qigong: "Trillion big city" takes the lead to support fundamentals

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

...:期待“为奥运喝彩”项目组持续发挥文化桥梁作用

. . . : qī dài wéi ào yùn hē cǎi xiàng mù zǔ chí xù fā huī wén huà qiáo liáng zuò yòng

...: It is expected that the "Cheer for the Olympics" project team will continue to play a role as a cultural bridge

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春“不打烊”:梁山港的坚守与奋进

xīn chūn bù dǎ 烊 : liáng shān gǎng de jiān shǒu yǔ fèn jìn

New Year "not closed": Liangshan Port's perseverance and progress

Tatoeba

一条小路跨过桥梁,穿过田野,还爬上小丘。

Yī tiáo xiǎolù kuàguò qiáoliáng, chuānguò tiányě, hái páshàng xiǎoqiū.

A small road ran across the bridge, through the fields, and over a hill.

Tatoeba

上梁不正下梁歪。

Shàngliángbùzhèngxiàliángwāi.

A fish rots from the head down.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced liáng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 梁 (liáng) mean in Chinese?
梁 (liáng) primarily means "liang dynasty (502–557)." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #1408 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 梁 have?
梁 is written with 11 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 梁?
The radical associated with 梁 is 木 (tree). This radical appears in many characters related to tree.
What are the components of 梁?
梁 is composed of: 氵 (structural), 刅 (structural), 木 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱⿰氵刅木 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 梁?
Common words with 梁 include: 桥梁 (qiáo liáng, "bridge (lit. and fig.)"); 横梁 (héng liáng, "beam"); 鼻梁 (bí liáng, "bridge of the nose"); 脊梁 (jǐ liáng, "backbone"); 顶梁柱 (dǐng liáng zhù, "pillar"). There are over 83 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 梁 (liáng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation liáng: 两 (two), 量 (capacity), 亮 (bright), 良 (good), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 梁 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 梁 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 梁 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.